Shuri was awakened by the sound of water moving. She stirred for a moment in the large hammock and looked at her right, where a wicker cradle was placed upon her request. She wanted her son next to her even during the night time in Talokan refusing to hand him over to a wet nurse that Namor called to help her.
Shuri looked inside the cradle and it was empty. For a moment, panic took her soul but the sound of the water moving was constant and steady, as if someone was moving their feet in the water. Shuri let the panic dissipate and stand up from her hammock.
The hut is illuminated with clean vases of bioluminescent worms that live inside the caves. Her bare feet makes no sound on the cold stone while reaching for Namor's cream-colored mantel to wrap herself in it. She's quickly hugged by his scent and she exhales happly. Then, she follows the sound of water and walks outside the hut.
Her walk is a short one: Namor sits by one of the cavern pools surrounded by an ethereal blue light and holding something. His voice hums a sweet song whose words are in Mayan.
Hearing her soft feet on the stone, K'uk'ulkan turns slightly at her and gives her a soft smile.
"Did I wake you up?" he asks in a whisper.
"No ... I don't think so ... I woke up on my own"
Namor hums again and turns to the bundle in his arms.
"He started to get fussy and I heard him. I wanted to let you sleep since you had such a busy day already and I took him here. Apparently, the sound of water moving relaxes him"
Shuri notice only now that K'uk'ulkan's feet are in the pool and his wings flutter to move the water. She has to admit that the sound is soothing and relaxing, even lulling Shuri to sleep again. Although her tiredness is also related to her difficulty to rest at night because of their son's sleeping schedule being completely off.
Shuri pokes her head and looks at the bundle of blankets in Namor's arms: their son K'awiil is four months old and since the day he was born, Shuri has been amazed by him. He's her carbon copy with a lot of soft wavy hair - which is unusual but she doesn't care - similar to his father.
Namor cradles his son while staring at him: the baby's tiny hand wrapped around one of Namor's gigantic fingers. Sometimes the baby opens his hand and Namor presses their palms together.
Shuri steals a look at him and she's not surprised to see him completely transfixed.
"I don't understand, Shuri"
"What?"
"I have seen babies before, so many times. In Talokan, parents always bring newborns to me, to name them or to bless them. I've seen my people as my children because I've seen them all from their birth until their death. I know how babies are formed, I know they are small, delicate and vulnerable. I know they can be difficult and challenging. But ... now, with him ... I don't understand ... I can't keep my eyes off him, I can't stop looking at him, I can't help but stare at his tiny features, at his small nose, mouth, ears, feet and hands and I can't stop thinking that he's the most beautiful baby I've ever seen, regardless of how many beautiful babies I have seen in my long life. When I look at his hands and feet, I can't help but compare mine with his, I can't stop thinking that mine were so small too one time and I wonder how is that even possible. I can barely remember when I was so small and now I have this little child in my arms who is growing before my eyes and I am amazed by everything about him." Namor stops and takes a deep breath while caressing the chubby cheeks of his son with a finger "I don't understand Shuri, it's like I'm seeing a baby for the first time in my life and everything is new, amazing and I am physically unable to keep my eyes off him"
Shuri smiles sweetly and leans over his shoulder, wrapping one arm around his while she reaches out to her baby to hold his tiny hands. His skin - similar to hers - is marvelously smooth under her fingers.
"I feel the same" she confesses to him in a low and gentle tone "I have seen babies, I've held them, I've cradled them and I've never had any particular feelings for them. I thought they were cute and smelled amazing but I've never thought of wanting one on my own nor I've never seen myself as a mother but ... now it's completely different. When I discovered I was pregnant, the first thing I did was cry ... I had so many conflicting feelings. Then, when we decided to bring him to the world I still felt unsettled, but the moment he was born, the first time I saw him ... it felt like the center of my universe has shifted all of the sudden. He's my new center and I'm simply orbiting around him, uncertain and terrified but ... in awe. It's the first time for me being so enraptured by something that wasn't built in a lab but that we made together and I ask myself how empty and lonely my life was before him"
Namor hums and leans towards her to kiss the top of her head before turning towards K'awiil in his arms. He's sleeping peacefully in his father's arm, his tiny pointy ears twitch at the soothing sound of the water and his thinning black hair - like his father's - are smooth.
"Do you want to give him to me? How long have you held him? Aren't you tired?" Shuri asks him.
"You carried him for nine months and you still carry him around most of the day. I can hold him. Besides, he weighs nothing." Namor smiles.
"To you!" Shruti giggles "Don't forget you have super strength"
"So you do, in yakunaj" he kisses her lips lightly and Shuri smiles tenderly.
Namor strokes one of his son's cheeks with his thumb.
"His skin is also very smooth" murmurs Namor.
Shuri hums again in agreement smiling.
"Sometimes I feel guilty for kissing his chubby cheeks and scratching him with my beard." Namor admits.
"Your beard is soft, so you shouldn't feel guilty. I love kissing him now that he's so small and can't escape me: they keep telling me that they grow up quickly and soon they will run away from my kisses. I know now that it's true. The first time I thought I was "too old" for affection I didn't let my Baba and Umama kiss me anymore. And now I wish I wasn't so stupid." Shuri says with a sad smile.
Namor looks at her with crushing tenderness and guilt.
"I remember ... my mother couldn't show her affection for me in public. She was Queen of Talokan until her death and I was her only heir, but the people already worshipped me like K'uk'ulkan and apparently showing motherly affection to their own God-like child was frowned upon. She had to restrict her love for me in private and even in that case, someone was always with us. Therefore, my mother created one of the first breather masks for face and gills so that she could take me on the surface and show me the land she longed for and give me the love and affection that she couldn't otherwise. She kept the creation of the breathers a secret for a few years but later, after my pressure too, she decided to make them for Talokan too. There weren't many Talokanil brave enough to venture to the surface without some protection. It took her a couple of years to perfect them and when she was sure it was safe, she gave the masks to the people of Talokan. At that time, I thought my mother's wish to keep the breathers a secret was egoistic but now I understand her motivation. "
He took a deep breath: what he was about to say was very important and he wants Shuri to understand what he wants to say.
"I don't want the same for K'awiil. I want to be able to kiss him and hug him in front of my people or yours without having to be judged for it. He's my son, my first child, the first one born from me. I don't want him to ever feel second to anyone or anything"
Shuri feels a deep sadness for Namor's mother and for him too. Being so lonely for so long, no family of his own or people that treated him like a God: never be kissed, never be held or touched him like a human being instead like a God-King.
Shuri raises her hand and caress his head, his bearded cheek, his soft hair. Namor closes his eyes and exhale in happiness, feeling Shuri's touch.
"We both know that your duty to Talokan must be your main priority - just like Wakanda is my priority - but I know that you will find time to love and cherish our son too. I know you will put him first over anything else, including me"
Namor turns to her, bewildered:
"No, I would never ..."
"Yes, you will. Because I know I will do it too. By protecting Wakanda and Talokan, we are protecting K'awiil too. I am not saying that I shall not love you anymore or that you will love me less, I'm saying that it's a different kind of love and it's ok. We will have to learn how to live with different kinds of love, I guess".
Namor remained silent for a few seconds, then chuckled.
Their son stirs in his sleep and Shuri quickly put a hand on his mouth to silence him.
"Don't wake him up!" Shuri whispers slightly aggressive.
"Sorry" Namor replies still smiling stupidly.
"What was that?"
"I just ... I was thinking of how you changed everything that I was before." he says and his eyes turn serious as he stares at Shuri "From being a lonely and bitter centenary child with no love in my heart - unniño sin amor - to a man with so many different kinds of love that I don't know how to deal with them." He sighs deeply "But I want to try. For you, for our son and for our people."
Shuri leans towards him and kiss him with passion, closing her arms around his neck. Namor, unable to move unless he woke up their child - and he would have himself impaled with his own spear before that happened - gladly accepts the kiss from Shuri, moaning in her mouth.
When Shuri broke her kiss and placed her forehead to his, Namor leans towards her to chase her in another passionate kiss, but she stops him by placing her fingers in his lips.
"What if we have another child?" Shuri asks.
Namor looks at her with attention. His ears almost immediately listen for another heartbeat, but he can only hear his son's and Shuri's hearts. He almost feels saddened for the absence of it, but then he remembers how difficult it has been for Shuri to give birth to K'awiil and he doesn't want her to go through that ever again. He would be happy to have only their son.
"Whether you give me one child or seven, I would love them all because they are a part of you." He replies smiling.
Then he adds a question that has been sitting in his heart for months:
"Will you marry me?"
Shuri smiles sweetly and caress his face:
"Two hundred and seventy five"
"What?"
"It's the times you asked me to marry you since we have made peace. It has increased since we discovered I was pregnant. And with today it's two hundred-seventy five" she giggles silently "And how did I answer you every times?"
Namor snorts:
"No. For two hundred-seventy five times"
"No."
"No?"
"Yes."
Yes? What ... wait ...
"Y-yes?" Namor asks, uncertain.
Shuri kisses him again sweetly.
"Yes, I will marry you. Now, let's take K'awiil to his crib"
Namor doesn't even realise that his wings have accelerated their fluttering making him walk a few centimetres from the ground. His heart is beating like it could pop out of his mouth and his eyes can't stop looking at Shuri's back.
It's the first time she says yes after two hundred-seventy four 'no'.
He will make sure she will 'yes' for two hundred-seventy five times.